Historic China House in Rancho Cucamonga to be demolished

RANCHO CUCAMONGA--Plans to demolish the historic China House in Rancho Cucamonga are moving forward.

A monument on the corner of the site, commemorating the Chinese laborers who had once lived in the house, will be placed near the present location of the house on San Bernardino Road. Bricks salvaged from the structure will be used for the monument.

The city has red-tagged the building as unsafe, and the Cucamonga Valley Water District, which owns the structure, has 60 days to re-mediate the condition. With no funds to restore or retrofit the structure, plans are to demolish the building. The two-story red clay China House, on the southwest corner of Klusman and San Bernardino Road, is the last remnant of the area's former Chinatown.

In the 1880s, Chinese laborers who had helped build the transcontinental railroad settled in an area of Rancho Cucamonga near the present-day intersection of San Bernardino Road and Archibald Avenue where they found agricultural work.

After the last Chinese laborer who lived in the building had passed away, the Navarrette family acquired and moved into the home in 1947. Larry Navarrette, 75, moved away when he entered the service in the late 1950s, but has fond memories of his teenage years.

Navarrette had gotten a room to himself in the attic where, in years prior, he said a former resident had committed suicide by hanging himself. Navarrette also remembers that he had salvaged bricks from older, demolished buildings, such as a printing press and a post office, for use in the home's fireplace.

"It's kind of sad to hear the news about this," Navarrete said. "On the other hand, I went on computer and was able to look at the house from satellite and viewed the roof. The roof is pretty well damaged and my thought is that it won't last too much longer. I'm glad that if they do demolish it, they do make a monument and preserve some of the old bricks."

Ed Dietl, a member of the Rancho Cucamonga Historic Preservation Association, had led efforts to preserve a part of this history for present and future residents. Dietll had earlier proposed demolition of the house with preservation of the some of the bricks for a memorial on or near the property.

"My sense is, I believe it's the correct thing to do, simply because the building will collapse on its own," Dietl said. "Once the building collapses, there's no choice in the matter. The only way we can save the history of this thing is by the planning commission and the water district working together to save its historical value."

In addition to the monument, a historic preservation consultant is documenting the history of the China House with detailed architectural descripions, scaled plan drawings, photographs, and a compilation of the history of the property.